In 2005 this was the safest seat in Britain.
A great deal of me didn't think he was going to win.
You're taking it all down?
Yes.
Last time we were here this was the thriving SNP shop - it's all been packed away now.
School kids popped in to get some souvenirs.
At the end of the shop it's the start of something bigger.
Guys, can I say something before you go? The only way this country is going to improve
is by guys like you getting involved in the process.
SNP!
How you doing gents? John, it's good to see you again.
The new member of parliament for Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill.
How you doing? Good to see you, sir.
What are you thinking about it then?
I mean, we never thought we'd see it.
It is amazing, isn't it?
It is amazing. It really is.
Biggest thing in my whole life, my whole generation. Biggest thing.
What this particular seat?
Aye. Aye, absolutely.
This isn't about nationalism, this isn't about the referendum, this isn't about a yes or
no vote or the 45% or anything. This is about people wanting change.
Vote SNP and knock the Tories out of Downing St.
How important a moment does today feel like?
It's quite exciting. It's about time that we had a change... made a change.
That's the one phrase we haven't heard anywhere in England. Nobody has said time for a change,
which you heard in 1997, I'd imagine you heard it in 1979, you probably heard it in 1964:
watershed elections.
The first person we speak to on election day in Scotland says it.
Chasing an SNP wagon.
It's just back in, it's just the next one.
Just making sure that our own voters have actually got out and voted.
We use the term "knock up".
I joined in 1967 - we were, in those days, tartan Tories.
And now?
Oh, my goodness. Socialism.
Absolutely.
We're a lot greener, we're generally pulling the party to the left.
The thing that's different for me with the SNP is that they have a voice of the people
which no other party has.
Do you feel excited?
No, because I'm scared.
What are you scared of?
I'm genuinely scared of antagonism against the Scottish people, right now.
It's disgusting and if it was the other way about there would be uproar.
You're going in to vote now.
Yes.
How important a moment do you think this is?
A big moment.
Is it?
A big moment for the country, yeah.
Who are you going to vote for?
The SNP of course.
Why are you going to vote for the SNP?
Because it's for Scotland, that's why. Who else would you vote for? I can't vote for Labour.
Why not?
I don't like what they stand for.
What do you think the Labour party stands for?
I don't know to be honest.
We're playing spot the Labour voter here.
We haven't found one yet and they still must exist.
Who are you going to vote for?
Won't tell me. Possible Labour voter if he won't tell me.
Have you voted Labour?
Erm, my vote's private, so...
Ok.
I suspect he voted Labour.
In the referendum they talked about shy nos, people who were voting no but wouldn't say.
Voting Labour, it has to be said, is very unfashionable here.
Do you know anyone who's voting Labour?
No.
No chance.
I voted Labour.
Right, ok. Tell us why.
I voted Labour because I'm a Conservative.
In voting SNP, in some way, are you voting for independence, do you think?
Not so much this time. I think it's just time for a change.
Two Labour, one SNP.
Yeah. Ha ha.
Yeah, I suspect the result will be the other way around.
Ha ha ha!
I think Nicola Sturgeon's the only person that's bringing progressive views forward.
Food banks, not just in Scotland, over the full of Britain. We should be taking care
of the people, not nuclear weapons that we're never going to use.
I was going to vote Labour today just to say that I wanted the Tories out. It was a fifty-fifty.
Was it?
Yeah.
When did you make up your mind finally?
Er, today.
And what swung it finally?
Er, I seen Nicola on the tele and thought: "Do you know what? I'm going to support you.
I'm going to go for it."
That's it.
But like birds gathering on a telegraph wire, the media pack is assembled here.
Woooooooooooo!!!
Woooooooo!!!
I cannot emphasise enough how we're in a completely unprecedented political reality here.
The SNP is going to win every last seat in this city.
Woooooooooo!!!
There's the first of the Glasgow seats.
Woooooooooo!!!
There's another one gone.
Woooooooooo!!!
It's hard to describe how strange it feels to be in the middle of all this because all
these people, with good reason, are jubliant and optimistic.
I've got to go back to England tomorrow and I don't think I have ever felt so distraught.
Probably not since Thatcher's successively won elections in the 80s. This is horrible.
We dust ourselves off, we move on. That's it. We keep fighting. We've had bad days before,
we'll have bad days again. That's politics. Every dog has their day.
Most people I speak to from the Labour party, they really don't like the SNP at all. There's
a hell of a tension between the two parties. Do you think over time you'll have to start
working with them in some way?
No. Fundamentally, we disagree with the SNP. We believe in the union. They don't.
But there's common ground on social justice, on equality and a different sort of economy
and all that.
Well. Well, policies they've cut and paste from our manifesto.
You talked throughout the campaign, about the renewal of progressive hope across the
UK. I've got to go back to England tomorrow and I feel really, really distraught. What's
your message to people like me?
If there's another Tory government tomorrow it's because Labour has failed to beat the
Tories in England. It's not because of what's happened in Scotland. So, the SNP will reach
out with a hand of friendship to work with progressives across the UK to try to challenge
the Tories.
Woooooooooo!!!
This is a very, sort of, distant perspective even standing in the middle of it. It feels
like watching it through a goldfish bowl because I've got to go home tomorrow to a great big
crisis for the English left.
I have to say though, I'm feeling very pessimistic.
I voted SNP, so proud but, you know, woke up to a Tory majority, so...
It's the morning after a very long night. We've barely been to bed.
And how do you feel this morning?
Pretty good that, you know, Scotland are going to have many a voice in Westminster but, I
mean, not so good that the Tories are back in.
How much pessimism and how much optimism do you feel? Tories in London, SNP here.
I think I feel more optimistic than pessimistic at the moment. It's a massive turnover for
Scotland. I've never been able to be a Labour voter, although I think that I'd like to be
but they've just not been able to offer what I think we need.
Which is?
Erm, free education, NHS, end of austerity as much as possible.
What do you make of the Labour party? What is it?
Er... Just...Just mainly lies. I don't tend to give it my time.
Here come some shocked and stunned SNPers.
Sorry about England man, what Labour had, do you know?
I apologise.
It's going to be terrible going home. I'm not looking forward to it.
How are you doing big guy?
Give me a hug.
Oh, what a night!
We've got to do the selfie, haven't we?
Magic.
Congratulations!
I voted for you. My wife voted for you. My son, we all voted for you and we knew Tom
Clarke was going to get beat.
You were so unsure of your prospects here you didn't tell your boss you were the candidate,
did you?
No, I didn't.
But he knows now.
For me personally, this is a very sort of bittersweet, mixed up moment that I can't
quite make sense of because when we came to see you here first, right, part of me worried
that this was such an outlier there wasn't going to be a story here and Labour was going
to hold the seat, right?
And we broke the swingometer.
Ha ha!
I've got to go back to England now and we haven't got any source of hope there. Labour
party's in a terrible state, minority parties have dwindled and the Tories are running the show.
And it's... it's tragic and this is the bittersweet feeling that we feel here. I mean, we feel
let down as well but you can't blame... don't shoot the messenger. You know, we did our bit.
They haven't resonated with the people of England the way we have resonated with the
people in Scotland.
What happens next then?
We start on Monday.
There's real hope coursing round these streets. People are thrilled to bits. Now I've got
to go back to England, find some of my own.